Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

God

The Divine Attributes Retreat

The Attributes of God

The Mystery of Creation

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Our present meditation
is the second on the Mystery of Creation. First a prolonged introduction.
Before we go into examining the spiritual implications of our Faith in God's
creating the world and us out of nothing, it will be useful to remind ourselves
that God not only CREATED, He is CREATING. Each of us when we came to the
world, was conceived and born, with a body and a soul. The body we received
from our parents. The soul for each one of us was individually, distinctly,
separately and immediately created by God. Let me repeat. It is not only that
God created the world but every time a human being is conceived, the Church
teaches at the moment of conception, God creates the soul and infuses it to
the body. That is why the expression "God our Creator" refers not
only to the beginning of time, it refers to the beginning of each one of us
separately, distinctively, and as we soon find out, uniquely. The most fundamental
reason why each of us is such a distinctive personality is because at the
moment of conception, God created each one of our souls separately, uniquely.

We now wish to
look at the spiritual consequences of our Faith in God our Creator. The number
of these implications is beyond counting. I would like to limit myself to
just seven: first, name them and then briefly explain each. First, humility;
second, gratitude; third, confidence; fourth; divine respect; fifth; peaceful
reliance; sixth; adoration and seventh; charity.

The first spiritual
implication therefore of our having been created by God is humility. We believe
that humility is living the Truth. And the Truth is that before God in His
Goodness brought us into being, we were exactly, mathematically as we say
metaphysically - NOTHING. We were nothing; we would be nothing except for
God's gift of creation. In practice, we are not to consider ourselves more
than we really are. More than we really are!!! What is more than nothing?
Anything! As you reread the great saints and mystics of Catholic hagiography,
men like John of the Cross, women like Catherine of Sienna - we are sometimes
startled at how little, how unimportant they consider themselves in their
own eyes. Well they might because whatever else the saints realized, they
realized more clearly than most people that once we admit that of ourselves,
we were and would be nothing, it becomes (I don't hesitate saying), psychologically
impossible to indulge even in passing thoughts of pride. What have we, what
have we, that we have not received?

Before we go on
to the second of the implications, let's be a little more clear. One of the
consequences of our having been made by God out of nothing is we have no claim
to anything as our own. True, very true. However, though all we are and everything
we have is a gift and is not ours that belongs to God, how for that very reason,
it is to be used according to the Will of God. And we dare not hide in pseudo-humility
in not putting into use, not exploiting the gifts that God has given us which
He wants us to use for His greater glory. We should never be afraid that provided
we use the gifts that God gave us according to His Will, He will protect us
from pride because we can and should always keep telling ourselves "Whatever
I have, whatever I am is a sheer, unmerited gift from God."

Second implications,
Gratitude. Why did God create us? Very simply. Because He loved us. What are
we saying? Do you mean you might object that God loved us before He made us?
Sure! Otherwise, we wouldn't exist!! How this needs to be told in the most
unqualified language to the now multi-millions who are not accepting the gifts
that God wants to give them in the children that He intends to bring into
the World. No mystery this: God loved before He made us. Our gratitude therefore
should be boundless. How spontaneously (I don't say without a second, but
even without a first thought), how spontaneously we are grateful for the least
favor done for us. How grateful then we should be to the God who in His Goodness
(no gain or profit as we have seen to ourselves), God wants us to imitate
His generosity, not looking for profit in giving ourselves - grateful that
God has been so generous in sharing with us what He as God possessed from
all Eternity.

There are three
words I would like to leave with you on how we should show our gratitude to
God. They are what I would like to call thanks-thinking, thanks-saying and
thanks-giving. Meaning what? Meaning that if I am to be grateful to God for
all that He has given to me, having brought me out of nothing into existence,
how careless, how thoughtless we can be in not first and most fundamentally
thinking grateful thoughts unless (may I recommend), unless we each day (that's
the way St. Ignatius trained us), never to let a day go by (that's my rule),
without at least once and better twice a day taking time out to thank God
for the gifts and graces He has given, me in the past and specifically for
the last half a day. This evening, after we finish our conference, I'll make
my evening examination of conscience - clocking myself - fifteen minutes,
twice a day and I begin as I've done, (I can't believe it) - now, for 52 years,
what a habit to get into to start by recalling the blessings God has given
me and thank Him. But I must first think thankful thoughts. Little hard to
pronounce but it's worth it. We must first think thank-full thoughts otherwise
we will not practice the gratitude that God deserves for having created us
and the world around us as His loving gift to His creatures who except for
Him, would be what they were before He made them - NOTHING! If there is one
word I will ask my guardian spirit to keep telling your guardian spirit to
keep on your minds - it is the word NOTHING! The word is NOTHING! Except for
the loving God, we would be what we were - nothing! Critics of St. John of
the Cross call him unkindly the spiritual master of nothingness. They don't
understand. John of the Cross as few other of God's saints realized, is nothingness
and that is not a figure of speech! It is a stark reality.

We go on. Our third
practical implication because of our Faith in creation, is confidence. Seeing
what God has given us, all that He has done for us from the moment of our
first existence to the present, can we possibly doubt His power and His goodness
in the future? Our hope is grounded on our Faith. We believe in (and that's
why I am going through these conferences to remind ourselves of the obvious)
we believe that EVERYTHING we have and possess and enjoy (let me add) and
ENDURE is a gift from God. "You mean pain is a blessing? Are you serious?"
I couldn't be more serious. How dare we be anxious or worried. We
should be confident that we shall receive from the same God who's been so
good in the past all that we need first to remain faithful to Him until death
and then confident the moment we cross the threshold from time into eternity,
this God will be there waiting for us. Of course, the strength of our hope
for our hopeful confidence depends on the depth of our trust. We hope in
the good things that God promises to give us in the future. But our hope of
receiving these good things depends on how completely we trust in God. Meaning
what? How convinced we are of God's love for us. That is all, that is all
the human heart wants in life - that's all - TO BE LOVED. And the one by whom
we most want to be loved is the one who has been so good, so lavishly generous.
(Words fail us in the past).

Our fourth implication:
Divine Respect. Strange combination of words to be explained as we go along.
It must be thirty years ago that I attended a lecture in Cleveland. You may
have read some of his books - Vance Packard, a social scientist. The whole
audience of about 500 were all clergy. He was describing how we in the modern
world, so much of present day business, economy, and behind it advertising
is based on what he called the instinct to conformity: the fear we have of
being different and the desire we have to being accepted. During the retreat,
I could not give you a more practical recommendation than to examine your
conscience not only during these days but everyday on where and how you have
allowed yourselves to be victims (and now the word), of human respect. How
many temptations and as a consequence, how many sins come from our fear of
what others will say or think of us. That by the way is how the human race
first failed in, the Garden of Eden. Remember? The Devil, (shrewd demon),
he watched Adam and he watched Eve. "I've got it! he said to himself.
"I need to get Adam to sin - it's his fall that will bring down the whole
human race, but I think the wondrous strategy, rather than tempting Adam
directly is by first seducing Eve. Adam obviously loves Eve. The last
thing he wants is to be separated from her. Very well, very well. See if
it works so he will not be separated from Eve. Both will sin." I've been
a priest 42 years. How we want to be accepted; I, a priest by other priests.
Needless to say, not everything that all the priests I know are doing, should
I do! I'm concelebrating Mass. The other priests come before the Altar before
the Tabernacle - not one genuflects. But I tell myself, "Hardon, get
down on your knees! You coward!!" In greater or less measure, we are
all victims of human respect.

Now back to our
Faith in creation. A moment's believing reflection will tell us, "Why
should I be so concerned what other people think of me, or say about me, or
what maybe the least painful, do to me? Before they were conceived in their
mother's womb, like me, they were, exactly nothing!" In the profoundest
sense of the word, we have NOTHING to be afraid of. Nothing created - it is
only the Creator whom we should fear. The sobering remedy therefore for human
respect is what I call Divine Respect. We are to be concerned ONLY (underlined
in my notes), ONLY with what God thinks of us. We should strive ONLY to please
Him. And if in the process of pleasing Him, others are pleased, too - GREAT!
That's a bonus but it is not necessary.

Our fifth implication:
Peaceful Reliance. Worry and anxiety are so epidemic in a prosperous country
like ours and the single, most flourishing profession in our country - anxiety
and worry are so epidemic in our country that the single most flourishing
profession in the Health Sciences is the profession of Psychiatry. And over
the years, I've counseled enough psychiatrists to be able to say this: The
bottom line for worry, anxiety that we are all so constantly prone to give
into is the realization that we have nothing to fear! Watch it. We have nothing
to fear from God provided we are faithful to His Will. The reason we become
an, worried is because we are so pathetically aware of our own weakness. We
know how stupid we are and under the pressure of trial and temptation, how
weak we are. This is why our Faith in Creation is the most effective remedy
for anxiety and worry. "My dear, what are you worrying about?" The
better we know ourselves, the more liable we are to be victims of anxiety.
But this is where Faith must enlighten our minds and tell us, "You wouldn't
even have begun to begin to be let alone have become what you are now if God
had left you to yourself. Trust Him for the future." And this is why
the daily examination of conscience which Ignatius recommended to us and I
pass on to you - beginning with a daily reflection on God's goodness to me
- so that void of, by the memory of God's blessing I might be strong to face
what I fear the future. Our Faith therefore in the Act of Creation dissolves
the myth of thinking we can do anything worthwhile to please God in the future
without Him.

Sixth implication:
Adoration. God is to be adored for His Greatness, His Power and His Majesty.
By now, how many prayers we have recited of adoration. Every "Glory Be
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit," is an act of
adoration. But, as we said in the beginning, the purpose of this retreat is
to reach to the foundations of our Faith and strengthen our spiritual life
so that here, we will not only be making verbal acts of adoration, well then
when we say "Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,"
we realize and I mean REALIZE the Greatness of God. What is, what is the deepest
ground for adoring God? It is the fact that He is our Creator. You may have
heard the name of an English poet by the name of Coventry Patmore. I first
read him when I entered the Society of Jesus. One statement of his in essays
that he also published, I'll never forget: "The highest purpose of creatures
in the world, the highest purpose of creatures in the world is to reveal
to us the Greatness of the Creator." The main purpose of the sun is not
to give heat and light or the food that we might be nourished. With all the
wonderful things in nature, the expression goes "we so much enjoy"
- the highest purpose is that the creatures with which we deal, with whom
we live, whom we see, whom we hear, that might all (and pray to the Lord),
might always be windows revealing us the Great God. Every creature should
be an impulse to adoration which means, to define the term, "to adore"
means to give loving recognition of the excellence of God.

I've got five words
each beginning with an "A" corresponding to adoration which also
happens to begin with an "A". How are we, (thanks to the creatures
with which we are surrounded), how are we to practice this adoration of God?
First, by paying attention to God. Oh, how attentive we can be to creatures
especially (you know what) creature who unless we watch ourselves can be constantly
on our minds by being attentive to God. We practice adoration of the Divine
Majesty by our admiration of God, marveling, standing in awe before what
God is showing us so that by seeing IT, we might see through it and behold
the wonderful God. We are to practice adoration and cultivate it everyday
by our acceptance of God. Strange word. Not so strange. By our acceptance
of the Will of God when it crosses our own and we call it (the only word we've
got), we call it pain. Oh, the adoration of a loving heart suffering pain.
We practice adoration of God by our acknowledgement of God's Sovereignty
- He is Master, never allowing ourselves to be cowed by others. We should
be a slave to no one except to the Almighty. And unexpectedly, we are to cultivate
the spirit of adoration by our anticipation - anticipating that the God whom
we now believe in, "Lord, how we look forward to that day when we will
no longer believe in you, but dear God, we beg You we will see You."

We have one more
practical implication for the spiritual life, number seven: Charity. I hope
in the short time I will give to this seventh and last implication, I'll be
clear. A lot depends on our clear understanding of how our belief in God's
creating the world and us should be the deepest stimulus for our practice
of selfless, generous charity toward others. We begin by making an obvious
statement: God created the world. Yes, He did. But, mysteriously, this is
God the All-Perfect, All-Good and Almighty God - how come in this world which
God created there are so many people in need, so much suffering? How come?
now, here's the key. God created the world - but, (let's say it), an uneven
world: there are mountain crests, there are also deep valleys.

Why, why in the world created by the good God is there so much want, so much
pain, so much need, so much! Is it God who made the world? Yes! but He wants
us to cooperate with Him. The reason there are needy people is not that we
should question God's goodness, but question our generosity. Where would
any of us be now unless over the years we've lived so far, unless there have
been people who without reflecting on the Theology but with the Divine impulse
they realized what we needed. God then has put inequality in the world - need
great need in order that we realizing that God has been so good to us, He
wants us to cooperate (let me use the term) in His ONGOING CREATION of the
world. We have things others lack. That's part of God's plan that those who
have might give to those who need. Although everyone and everything has been
created by God, He has in large measure left the distribution of His Gifts
to us. Let me repeat the sentence. Although everyone and everything in the
whole world has been created by God, yet He has in large measure left the
distribution of His Gifts to us. In fact the Church has even coined a term
to describe our role in cooperating with God by distributing His gifts. The
Church calls it the Second Creation. The inequality among human beings which
is such a scandal to unbelievers for us to believe is the foundation of Charity.
Thank God for ignorant people! Thank God for unskilled people. Thank God for
sick people. Thank God for lonely people. Thank God, what am I saying? But
I have to - for the sinners!!! That God wants us by our practice of selfless
charity, to share with them what God has so generously given to us.

A short closing
prayer: "Most Holy Trinity, we thank You for creating us and we adore
You the Creator of heaven and earth. Teach us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
to cooperate with You in sharing with others the blessings you have given
to us so that by sharing Your Creation with everyone whom you put into our
lives, we might reach that destiny for which You created the world. In the
Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."

Transcription of the retreat given in December, 1988
by Father John A. Hardon, S.J. to the
Handmaids of the Precious Blood